WE ARE FSTVL SATURDAY : THE RUN DOWN

Arriving with my squad of friend’s old and new, you could say I was a little excited for the antics that lay ahead at We Are Fstvl. The first festival of the summer, and We Are Fstvl’s biggest line up to date, I knew I was going to struggle to see absolutely everyone that I wanted to see but I was going to try my darndest. The sun was shining, glitter, gems and barely there outfits flooded the aerodrome… and that’s not just the girl’s we’re talking about, as guys and girls made an effort to soak up the sun and get down to the filthiest beats.

Kurupt FM were a highlight for me back in 2016 and I’ve been showing them bare groupie love ever since, so they definitely deserve a mention for their entrancing set. MC Grindah, Chabuddy G, DJ Beats and Steve’s relighted the UGK love for all those that turned up for their set. It was evident that Garage never died as they rewinded back to classic 90’s and 00’s tunes, with a little bit of luck they also put their mark on Baby D ‘Let me be your fantasy,’ as well as one of their biggest tracks to date ‘Heart Monitor Riddim,’ everybody sing “punch, lyrical blow to the jaw!”

And we’ve got to show love to headliner Craig David with TS5, for bringing the pirate radio sensations on for his set where crowds got in their element spitting to his Justin Beiber influenced ‘Fill Me In,’ ‘Rewind’ and TLC’s ‘No Scrubs.’ Just imagine a heaving crowd of smiley faced wannabe MC’s!? It was pretty inspiring, like some sort of MC Flashmob.

The LoveJuice tent was where you needed to be if you love the vibes of Marbella, Ibiza and Dubai; where they’ve been hosting the sexiest House and Dance events for the last 10 years. A pivotal part of We Are Fstvl over the last few years they’ve brought us CJ Sax (one of the nation’s most loved saxophone players,) and Bongo Ben (because who can forget the days when you’d go clubbing and you wouldn’t try your hardest to have a go on some blokes bongo’s much to his annoyance?!)

We settled down for a cider or few at the Kopparberg Urban Forest as hosted by Solid Grooves, where we watched our boy Michael Bibi spin, as inflatable animals filled the sea of groovers. He was also joined by his SG family including Pawsa and Dennis Cruz, after he’d dropped serious remixes from Pax. The vibe was very cuban with bright colours and tropical plants… could Solid Grooves be hinting at a South American takeover? We wouldn’t be surprised if they pitched up there next year.

Not content with the baddest in music DJ’s and MC’s, then that’s fair, as festival goers made way to fairground rides to scream if your favourite DJ’s weren’t doing it right or you needed an excuse for a scenic view of the site. Silver abstract features and other decorative features were poised around the site, ready and raring for futuristic selfies and poses. Ball pits are all the rage these days, so we were pretty excited when we witnessed impressive dives to make Olympic diver Tom Daley Wince; that’s unless VIP were beckoning you into their plush hot tubs, which wouldn’t be surprising as it was as hot as we’d anticipated.

UKF is always a favourite of mine and no matter where I am, I always make time for a snippet of Redlight and My Nu Leng, who for me bring some of the largest bouts of energy when they’re not even housed in the biggest arena. My feedback to We Are Fstvl is… get UKF a bigger tent, man!

Down in CircoLoco we were feeling proper like we’d gone back in time to our happy place of Ibiza, which We Are Fstvl are hella guilty of tempting us to spontaneously buy tickets as the summer season gets underway. The Martinez Brothers brought their special mix of Latin House… yeah we could have sworn we saw people doing the salsa, which was strangely impressive.

Over on the We Are Fstvl stage, not only did Kurupt FM and Craig David get the crowd hype but Jonas Blue had everyone bellowing out his most famed hit ‘perfect stranger,’ which we’re pretty sure you can imagine set everyone off as soon as they heard the intro. Ensuring us ladies got our dose of girl power was the ever enthusiastic Hannah Wants with elements of old skool US House, whilst Gorgon City had a strong set that featured many of their classics.

We didn’t manage to do the two full days, because we were there from beginning to close and were honestly wounded but that’s why this year’s camping would have been ideal for those wishing to see Dizzee Rascal, Jamie Jones and Sven Vath on the Sunday. Don’t worry, we will forever hang our heads in shame but a massive shout out to those who managed 3 days of diabolical mentalness, you are heroes in our eyes and so, all those beautifully mesmerizing lazer’s and explosive cannons are for you… our unsung raving heroes!

Those light shows that go with the evening sets, almost beg for day to turn to night but then it does make finding stages and tents even harder than it was during the afternoon when you’d already sunk a few Desperados but none the less I’ll never get tired of saying that the lanyard full of set times and maps, isn’t the be all. If I was so heavily set on following the times then I probably wouldn’t have befriended a third of the groups of people I met along the way and for that We Are Fstvl, we thank you.

Last weekend thus proved that music will and still does hold the masses together, no matter where you’re from or what you do, we’ll always unite at festivals such as We Are Fstvl.

If you’re still high of the vibe you can get early bird tickets for We Are Fstvl 2018 right here.